Building a business directory

I saw some threads that were confusing and not very goal-oriented. I apologize for opening a new one, but I think it will be beneficial for all interested members here.

I am planning to build a new business directory with a friend (business partner). I already contracted a freelancer to set up a small business directory based on the Wordpress theme Vantage from AppThemes, but with the new buisness directory we aim higher.

To start with - I created a dropbox folder and a onenote file to work on the project and keep all the brainstormed ideas written somewhere. It also helps to give a skype session a structure, so that we are all on the same page, whenever we talk together.

It is still a niche topic, but it should be highly profitable as the CPC (AdWords) for some cities averages more than 20 Euro. I also talked to a company in that specific field and he told me that he has to spend more than 7,000 Euro per month in advertising.

Our budget for the development (programming & design) is between 10k and 20k Euro. We want to set up a business directory that gives actual value to the customer who is looking for a supplier (service provider).

We want offer 3 different memebership plans, a free basic, a silver and a gold membership. Not to mention we focus on Germany and probably Switzerland and Austria.

Maybe someone, who has experiences, can help me with some questions I still need to figure out:

- Will it be possible in the future to have a chance, while Google is putting own services in front of the organic rankings?

- Is it possible/recommended to implement Google Places or Google+ business profiles into the directory listings?

- Has anyone experiences with automated payment procedures? (This will be solved by the programmer, but I want to hear some opinions)

- Do you think it is a good point to add a blog with topic-relevant articles?

- Is it possible to start a empty directory or do you think it is better to enter data and give company owners the possibility to claim their listings?

- Do you think a obligatory backlink for service providers who use the free membership plans is a reasonable way to gain authority?

A directory is a lot of work. I've considered it given I do local affiliate marketing in a specific industry, but I really don't see directories ranking all that well and the traffic generated by directories isn't all that great. Therefore, I prefer, from an individual business perspective, to invest in other traffic sources.

What this means is that it's not easy to attract paying businesses and to make the entire thing profitable. If you are in an industry and benefit beyond revenue generated by the directory, it might make more sense.

However, I've never done it so I can't say for sure. I would certainly do a ton of rank checking in your industry to see how directory sites are ranking at the local level before starting the site.

As a complement to an existing project/niche, directories might make sense. As a stand-alone project, I'm not so sure.

I agree that business directory is a lot of work. So if you have the budget, you can start small in your city to see if it works before you go for national directory of the niches. It's a hell of work to maintain too so I guess that's not a lot of people are wokring it.

- Will it be possible in the future to have a chance, while Google is putting own services in front of the organic rankings?

Yes, local directories will always work but not all of them. If you make your site useful and bring value to the users you will be awarded with good rankings.

Originally Posted by Kaizen5

- Is it possible/recommended to implement Google Places or Google+ business profiles into the directory listings?

Do you mean to include a filed on profile page where companies can add their google+ profile? If that is your quesiton than -yes, you can do it.

Originally Posted by Kaizen5

- Has anyone experiences with automated payment procedures? (This will be solved by the programmer, but I want to hear some opinions)

Automatic payment can work very well as long as you did i right.Offer all kind of payment methods (including Paypal) because this will put more trust on your directory + people are more confident when they are able to pay with safe payment gateways like Paypal.

Originally Posted by Kaizen5

- Do you think it is a good point to add a blog with topic-relevant articles?

It is not good, it is "must" to have a blog with niche related artiles. You can also interlink you blog articles and your related directory pages

Originally Posted by Kaizen5

- Is it possible to start a empty directory or do you think it is better to enter data and give company owners the possibility to claim their listings?

You can start both ways. If you can afford a huge advertising campaign, then start with empty directory and build your db slowly. If your budget is low you can fill your db with listings. Bare in mind that you have to offer value to the users. If you just fill your pages with millions of companies this is not going to work.

Originally Posted by Kaizen5

- Do you think a obligatory backlink for service providers who use the free membership plans is a reasonable way to gain authority?

No, this is the fasted way to destroy your directory SEO. That strategy worked 5 years ago. Now is considered as paid links.

Also Kaizen5, building a good directory is not enough, you need to build a web brand. For this reason you have to choose very carefully your directory name, something short and memorable will be a good start. The other very important aspect of branding is the marketing. If I was you, I would spend a lot of time on choosing the best advertising methods for my directory. Many entrepreneurs destroy their online business even before start getting some traffic.

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excuse me if i made no sense or something, i just want to learn more.

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